


Sympathy for the Devil

by LovelyLullaby



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Demon Deals, F/M, Gen, I have no shame, No Smut, Well - Freeform, Why Did I Write This?, Yandere, but it'll get better, end my sinful hand, idek i haven't decided yet, maybe later on, more like: the writer makes a mistake, reader is also kinda a pushover dumbass, reader is an aspiring animator, reader is female, reader makes a mistake: the fanfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-10-23 10:20:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10717479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovelyLullaby/pseuds/LovelyLullaby
Summary: After having a strange dream, you decide to check out the old Bendy animation studio only to meet the toon himself. After hearing his desperate plea for his life, you agree to help him.There's a reason people tell you not to make deals with devils.But you went and did it anyway.





	1. 1

As an aspiring animator, what happened to Joey Drew and the Bendy Crew (a cute little nickname given by your college professors) was a bit of a tragic irony. They should’ve had everything going for them. A talented staff, amazing ideas, beloved characters. It all should’ve come together.

Instead, due to immense amount of waste, poor management, and poor conditions, the entire project shut down. Everyone went their separate ways and the whole thing was regarded as one of the greatest tragedies to the animation world. They could’ve had everything, they could’ve been everything.

Right now, there could’ve been a Bendyland. There could’ve been toys and new TV shows and entire generations of animation directly inspired by Bendy.

Instead, the most people paid heed to it were the occasional sad, pathetic reruns of old shorts played on TV on Halloween and nostalgic film festivals. There were a few, obscure animation shorts of Bendy and friends floating online and maybe a few animators in the business would list Bendy as one of their biggest inspirations, but for the most part?

Just a short, sad little chapter in your college textbooks and a couple of lectures.

You remembered, from your youth, gnawing on small plastic toys and watching the VCR struggle to play old Bendy cartoons while your mother was at work. Your mother couldn’t afford cable and you only had a handful of tapes to play while your mother worked. And though the Princess and Pirate movies were fun, there was always something that kept your attention about the Bendy cartoons.

To this day, you still didn’t know where your mother got that old tape. No matter where you looked, there had never been any official release of the Bendy cartoons anywhere, least of all on VHS, but you supposed maybe some old overzealous fan took the time to painstakingly copy the film reels to tape and it just so happened to make it into your mother’s hands.

You couldn’t say you minded, even if the legality of the whole situation was a little iffy.

Point was, you could safely say that those old cartoons were some of the ones you’d mark on your little inspiration checkbox. Almost everyone had some sort of old animation as inspiration, but you weren't proud to say you were one of the few that went with Bendy. 

And so, with these thoughts in your mind and after working on your portfolio, it really wasn't all the surprising you ended up dreaming about your old childhood passion.

The dream was a simple one, nothing too fancy. One minute you were sleeping, the next you were in a room obscured entirely by darkness. Then, in front of you, a spotlight turned on and shone down directly on Bendy the Dancing Demon.

In the dream, you couldn't help but squeal in delight and clap your hands together at the sight of such a nostalgic figure.

But Dream Bendy had other plans aside from amusing you. He cleared his throat, perhaps more dramatic than strictly necessary, and said, "[Name][L/N], it's your lucky day! I've decided to make your childhood dreams come true!"

You gasped, "Am I gonna be a princess in this dream?"

"No!" Bendy exclaimed. "I'm gonna let ya meet me! In real time! Lucky you, right? All ya gotta do is go to the Drew and Dupree Animation Studio for a spell when you're awake. Think ya can handle that?"

"So I'm not gonna be a princess?" you asked.

"You'd better show up! I'm countin' on ya!" Bendy chirped. And then you went back to your regularly scheduled dreaming.

It was due to this and finding yourself with a sudden block of free time, that you ended up standing outside the old animation studio for Joey Drew and Henry Dupree. You clutched the strap of your messenger bag even tighter as you stared at the old, decrepit building. The wood was yellowing and rotten, partially falling apart.

The only clue pointing towards what it used to be was the washed out sign with the face of Bendy himself and half of his name, the other half having been rubbed off.

"This is so stupid," you muttered. To think, that you'd come all the way there just for a dream. Oh sure, you lived in the same town as the old animation studio, but still. It felt ridiculous to go out of your way like this just because you dreamed Bendy asked you to.

Well, at the very least it would be a good little bit of history. Who knows, maybe there'd be some old, unfinished sketches or film reels left behind you could help yourself to. There'd at least have to be some posters.

Steeling yourself, you glanced around to make sure there weren't any cops around to ask why you were trespassing, then you stepped up to the entrance of the old building. You halfway expected the door to be locked, or at least blocked, but it opened almost scarily easily.

The interior of the building was completely dark. It would be downright laughable to expect the electricity to work (how many years had it been since anyone paid a bill?) so instead you used the flashlight on your phone to light up the hallway.

It was such an interesting piece of history in front of you, you couldn't help but be a little starstruck as you looked around the front hallway practically covered in old Bendy posters. You took another step within and jumped a bit when the door slammed shut behind you. It had been windy out, so it wasn't that surprising, but it still gave you quite a spook.

But what ended up being even creepier was when slowly, but surely, the lights in the building began to turn on. Everything was still dim, but you could see out in front of you. It was almost comical in a way, you never thought you'd be spooked by light turning on. You told yourself that it had to be some old forgotten generator that was triggered by the door opening, that had to be it. Nevermind the fact light bulbs that old should've long since stopped working, so someone must've changed them recently.

And you were in a full blown panic now. 

It was ridiculous, you'd been in the building for maybe five minutes and you were already on the verge of peeing yourself. You knew you should've roped one of your friends into going in with you. This place had too many ghosts of the past for you to handle alone.

But you didn't go for nothing. You were at least going to grab something to take with you before you left. There seemed to be an assortment of Bendy cutouts pretty much everywhere, so you doubted it would be missed if you just took one with you.

Your fingers curled around the closest Bendy and you made your way back to the exit. How pathetic, you didn't even make it out of the first hallway, but you couldn't help it. You were terrified of this place.

But it seemed maybe you had good reason to be afraid, since the front door had locked behind you and you couldn't get back out.

You felt something like bile rise in your throat and you resisted the urge to vomit all over yourself and the Bendy cutout. Because the door hadn't been locked before. In fact, it opened with ease, as though inviting you in. Yet now it was locked tightly shut? Something was seriously wrong here.

You pounded your fists against the door, then took to ramming your shoulder against it once or twice in an effort to hopefully knock it down. The building was falling apart and made up of old, rotting wood, it should've been easy to bust it down. But it stayed firm.

There was a moment of blind irrational thought, where you wanted to just sink to the ground and sob, but rationality took over and you started to formulate a plan. First, call the police. Maybe you'd get in trouble for going in the old Bendy studio, but a mark on your record was better than staying. 

You lifted your phone. No service. Figured.

Well, if that wouldn't work, there was something else you could try. The building may have been old, but there was no way it didn't have another exit, or at least some unboarded windows. It required you to look around a bit more, but you could surely do that at least. Well, what other choice did you have except hope the front entrance would miraculously unlock?

You left the cutout behind, since it would've just weighed you down. You walked through the first hallway, looking around and hoping that nothing would pop out at you. If a rat or something were to show up, you'd probably have a heart attack due to how wound up you felt.

In spite of the terror in the pit of your stomach, the building itself didn't seem to have anything overly frightening about it aside from, you know, locking you in. You would forever be thankful for that.

The wood seemed to be decaying, and there were unsettlingly large piles of ink here and there, but otherwise? Nothing too concerning.

Or at least, nothing would've been all that concerning had you not seen a shadow pass along one of the walls. You blinked rapidly and rubbed away at your eyes to make sure you weren't hallucinating. The shadow was gone by the time you opened your eyes again, but you knew you hadn't imagined it.

Alright, it was time to begin hyperventilating. That would be fun, right? Maybe you'd even pass out and you wouldn't have to deal with life anymore. No. You wouldn't give in like this. 

"I know you're there," you called out. Your voice echoed slightly. You backed up a bit towards one of the walls, turning to make sure you weren't about to back into someone. Again, by the wall, there was another Bendy cutout. It would make a pretty terrible weapon, but you know, it was better than nothing. "Come out where I can see you."

You honestly didn't expect anything to come out. You thought maybe it'd all just end up being a rat and you could laugh and laugh about how freaked out you got later once you were out of there. But something did come out. There was a shadow, distinctly human sized, and it was coming right for.

You couldn't help it. You screamed and grabbed the cutout by your side, swinging it as hard as you could at the shadow once it got close enough.

It didn't connect. Theoretically, it should have. You could see the edge of the cutout touch the edge of the figure, but it's almost like...

It went straight through it.

"Gh-Gh-Gh," you stammered.

The shadow sighed, "Go on, take your time."

But the word on your tongue died a gruesome death when you noticed just what was standing in front of you. It wasn't a ghost, unless you considered it to be the ghost of a dead company, but it wasn't a human either. What you were seeing right now shouldn't have been possible.

You felt very, very feint. Your knees wobbled and bounced against each other.

"I knew I shouldn't have eaten all that cheese before coming here," you breathed, already on the verge of hysterics. "Dear god, I'm hallucinating. I've gone insane."

"I can assure ya, it's neither," **Bendy the Dancing Demon** , himself, told you. "Well, maybe that second one. Who knows?"

He looked just as he did the cartoon, except perhaps a little bit more dimensional. Same Pacman eyes, same black and white coloring, same creepy grin. Everything was the same as the Bendy from the cartoons.

Except, you know, this was real life and cartoons had no business being there. 

You sunk to the floor, muttering to yourself about antipsychotics and if you could still graduate if you took some time off to admit yourself to a facility for a bit.

"Geez, if I'd known ya were gonna be so pathetic, I wouldn't have asked ya to come," Bendy exclaimed. "Oh, who am I kidding! Yeah I would've! This is too funny to pass up!"

As though to prove his point, Bendy laughed. It was the same gravelly chuckle from the cartoons and somehow that's what made the whole thing feel real to you.

You shot to your feet and ran back towards where you remembered the entrance to be with uncharacteristic speed. Even Bendy looked a little surprised. It didn't take you long to make it to the entrance and you barreled straight into it, hoping and praying that you'd maybe be able to knock it over. No such luck, but you weren't giving up now. Especially because if you didn't get out, that Bendy would have you boxed in. 

You banged your shoulder into the door, putting as much strength as you possibly could, even giving yourself a little jump here and there to, hopefully, add some pressure. Nothing. The door refused to budge.

"Ya done yet?" 

You tried not to let the voice from behind you take you too off guard. At least this weird animated atrocity wasn't attacking you.

"That depends, do I still have a chance of getting out?" you replied.

Bendy laughed at your words, "Not a chance."

You visibly deflated.

"I brought ya here. You think I'm gonna let ya leave just like that?" Bendy asked. "I need to talk to ya first."

You faced the animation warily. What was it, exactly, that he wanted from you? It's true that you did have that dream and compulsion to come to this building, but was that really the work of the Bendy in front of you?

"Come on, let's go somewhere cozier to chat," Bendy said.

You didn't really see any other way out of the situation and it didn't seem like Bendy wanted to hurt you, at least not yet, so your best bet was going along with him for now. 

"Okay..." you replied.

"Glad you're seeing the big picture," Bendy chuckled and winked. It made you feel vaguely uncomfortable. He gestured for you to follow him with one of his massive gloved hands. You did so. He led you back through the hallways until you arrived at what appeared to be an old office. Bendy ran in front of you, to the first chair, and spun it around a few times before setting it back on all four legs and gesturing to it as though he wanted you to sit.

It looked like an offer, but you knew it was more like an order.

You sat down, trying to ignore the dust. Bendy vaulted over the desk, to sit on the other side in the chair, he folded his hands in front of him on the desk as though you were there for a job interview.

He pulled something out from the bottom of the desk and set it in front of you. "Care for some Bacon Soup?" Bendy asked.

You gulped, "No thanks."

Bendy shrugged and replied, "Suit yourself." Then he tossed the can up into the air, opened his mouth, and swallowed the can whole. Just like in the cartoons. Somehow, it was less unnerving in real life. 

Once Bendy finished his...snack, he said, "So. Let's just get right to it, shall we?"

"What's going on?" you asked. "How are you real? What do you want from? How do you-"

"Shhh," Bendy replied. "I'll get to it. Until then, I think you'd better shut your mouth."

He stared at you as though he expected something to happen. You looked around uncomfortably, but nothing happened. 

"Um..." you coughed.

Bendy sighed heavily, "Fiddlesticks. Let me just get right to it. Do you know what a tulpa is?"

Your mouth went dry. "I-Is that what you are?" you asked.

"No," Bendy replied. "Well, sort of."

"Well, which is it?" you asked.

Bendy glared at you and said, "I thought I told ya to be quiet and let me explain!"

"Alright, alright, go on," you replied.

"Good. What I am is similar to that concept. I'm a real, certified demon, just like my namesake and appearance suggests," Bendy said. You wanted to tell him he was a bit too cute to be a demon, but you doubted he'd much appreciate it. "Just like any demon, I have to feed off something. Ya know what that is?"

"The souls of the innocent?" you squeaked. He gave you an unamused look.

"Do you really think I'd be locked in here if that were the case?" Bendy asked. "No, it's attention."

You scratched your chin in thought. You guessed what he was saying made sense, in a way. And you could see the connection to a tulpa. Tulpas were real as long as people believed in them. In Bendy's case, did that mean...?

"You're only real so long as you have fans?" you asked.

"Bingo was his name-o!" Bendy exclaimed and snapped his fingers. "Without fans, I'll fade out of existence, ya get it?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with me?" you asked. "Or why you're stuck here?"

"Wow, smart one minute, and a complete moron the next. You remind me of Boris," Bendy scoffed. That was another question. If Bendy was real, then what did that mean about Boris and Alice Angel? "Since this place is my birth place, I'm not powerful enough to leave, dummy. I need more fans if I want to leave. The more fans I have, the more powerful I am. And I'm sad to say, my fans are a dying breed, kid. You're one of the final few under 40."

"B-But, how can that be?" you stammered. "It's not like no one knows about you! There's a whole chapter devoted to you in my textbooks."

"Boring book passages aren't the same as fans, dummy!" Bendy exclaimed. "Soon enough, I'll be all out of fans and that'll be it."

Well, you guessed you could sort of feel for him. It would be pretty scary to sense your impending doom, to slowly, but surely lose power and relevance until you were nothing more than a weakened shell of your former self. But...

"What do you want me to do?" you asked.

"There it is. The reason I invited ya here!" Bendy chirped. "It's like this, I want you to make me famous again!" Bendy pointed at your face when he said 'you' and you resisted the urge to move his finger out of your face. You were still sort of at his mercy here.

"How do you expect me to do that?" you asked.

"You're an animator, right?" Bendy replied. "Or at least one in training. Make me into a new cartoon. It should be easy."

Your eyes widened at what he was suggesting. That wasn't easy. Far from it, actually. For starters, you weren't even out of school yet. And even if you were, it's not like you worked for any companies. To take on a project as massive as making Bendy famous again, you'd need financial backing and other talents working alongside you. And even if you got a perfect job right out of college, it's not like you could just run in with an idea to reboot Bendy and expect it to be accepted right off the bat. Or at all.

You didn't have the rights and he wasn't in the public domain either. As far as you understood, Joey Drew still held the rights to Bendy and all associated properties. It was not easy!

"Bendy..." you trailed off. "What you're asking is impossible."

"Oh? Why's that?" he asked. His tone sound dangerous.

"Well, for starters I don't own the copyright," you replied. "I can't make any properties involving your likeness unless I had that, which I don't."

Bendy made an overdramatic thinking noise, before he said, "You let me take care of that. I'll get ya the copyright."

"How?!" you exclaimed.

"I just will!" Bendy snapped. "Now, any other problems?"

"Well, even if you could get me the rights, the chances of me being able to make a successful product with no money is slim," you replied. "I'd be working entirely alone as well, so I wouldn't have anyone else to fall back on."

"And?" Bendy asked.

"And?!" you exclaimed. "And it's not as easy as you're acting!"

"So what? You're just gonna say no and let me die?"

You flinched. That wasn't what you wanted, but it was unrealistic. You couldn't just jump into something like this with no thought. You knew what you were capable of and this was out of your ability.

"Why me?" you asked. "I'm sure there's someone else you could ask for help. Not that I don't want to, but...I just don't think I'm capable."

"Like it or not, you're the only one who is capable," Bendy said. "You're the only living fan left who can animate and doesn't have arthritis."

Your breath hitched. Was that really it? There were no other fans left? But then again, were there even that many fans left? Sure, a lot of cartoon fanatics knew of Bendy, but it was more in the line of historical intrigue than actual enjoyment of the cartoons. No matter how many people knew of Bendy, it didn't make a difference if they weren't his fans.

"Alright..." you sighed. "Let me think. Maybe...I guess if I had the rights, I could post all of the old cartoons to an official channel. Then I could make some new ones, but they'd have to be short and I wouldn't be able to have a frequent uploading schedule unless I had a steady income. I can't believe I'm actually considering this. Getting out one short on my own could take months."

"But you'll do it?" Bendy asked and leaned across the desk excitedly.

"Maybe I could make a webcomic in between the animations?" you continued to mutter. "That would be a good idea, but that's not exactly easy either. Dammit...dammit...dammit..."

"Buuuuut you'll do it?" Bendy repeated.

"Would a kickstarter work? No, no, I'd need a little bit of content first before doing something like that. Same for a patreon. How am I gonna find people who wanna help with this for cheap?" you murmured.

"[Name]!" Bendy snapped.

You jolted out of your thoughts and directed your full attention to Bendy, "Hm?"

"You're gonna do it, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll do it," you replied and already regretting it. "But you'd better not expect instant results or get your hopes up too much. Life is different now."

"Of course I know that!" Bendy exclaimed. "I'm not an idiot!"

"I know that, but you haven't been out of here in how long?" you asked. Bendy didn't reply. "Yeah. Well, I'm going to help you, but I need the copyright first. I'll leave that to you, Bendy. Can I...can I go home now?"

"Not yet," Bendy responded. "I need to make sure ya won't just leave and not uphold your half of the deal."

You hadn't even thought about doing that. Maybe you were just too innocent to do something that sneaky. Bendy pulled out a piece of paper from seemingly nowhere and smacked it in front of you, then he dropped a pen by the paper.

"What does this say?" you asked, squinting at the letters that seemed to be rapidly changing and in a different language than English.

"Don't worry about it, just making sure ya stick to your half of the deal," Bendy said.

You looked up at him and said, "You can't expect me to sign this without knowing what's on it. You could've put anything on here. No offense, but you're still a demon and I can't just believe you're being honest."

If Bendy could frown, you got the feeling he would be. He snapped his fingers and the words on the paper turned to English and quit shifting.

"Basically, so long as ya attempt to make me famous until the day you die, you'll uphold your side of the deal," Bendy explained. Sure enough, that's what the paper said as well. "If ya break your half of the deal, your immortal soul will be mine after ya die."

"I thought you said you didn't eat souls," you said.

"Just because I don't eat them doesn't mean I can't figure out something to do with them," Bendy replied.

"I see..." you sighed. It seemed kind of unreasonable to expect you to do all of this for free, but you got the feeling if you didn't agree, you'd never be leaving this old animation studio.

"I can see on your face you think this is unfair," Bendy said. "That's why, once I've regained enough power, I'll grant ya one wish."

Sure enough, that's what it said in the contract. 

"Alright," you replied. "And if I refuse to sign this?"

"Then I'll refuse to let ya out." Bendy shrugged. "It'd be a shame if ya starved in here. There's only so much bacon soup."

"Yeah, I figured as much," you said. You picked up the pen, fully aware that this was going to change your life. Well, may as well just accept your current fate. You signed the paper with your name.


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick Note: I changed the title of this story to Sympathy for the Devil after the song because while Dance with the Devil is fitting considering Bendy's dancing, I feel like Sympathy for the Devil coincides more with reader's feelings towards him.

        Joey Drew didn't consider what happened to his animation studio a tragedy. He knew people still talked about his mismanagement and how unfortunate it all was, but honestly? He was glad it happened. 

        The part of the story people didn't know was just how much Bendy, the real Bendy, the  _demon_ Bendy, corrupted his mind while he worked on that blasted cartoon. It had all been so well at first. He'd come up with the idea almost miraculously, for a cute cartoon demon and his little cartoon friends. Henry had jumped on board almost immediately and it all seemed to go up from there.

        But there was nothing miraculous about the idea. Not at all. 

        As he soon discovered, his idea was, how to put it, possessed by a true force of evil. And so Joey's mind went along with it. The demon Bendy tormented him at every turn, plaguing his mind day and night, night and day, there was no escaping it. No one else could see it. They thought he was talking to himself, they all thought he'd grown so obsessed with his own creation, and he did. He lost his mind for a bit because of that stupid demon.

        By the time Joey's mind had been cleared, the company was already out of business and he was forced to face all the questionable decisions he'd made during that time. Purchasing the ink machine, never sleeping, talking to himself, harassing coworkers, spending money on frivolous things. All things he didn't even realize he'd done until months after the fact, until Bendy was too weak to take over his mind anymore. 

        There'd been a brief time, perhaps ten years before, he considered going back to that old studio and seeing what had become of his old creation, but he resisted the urge. The thought of letting Bendy, even briefly, back into his mind was too horrifying to consider. 

        No, it wasn't worth it. Since the studio went out of business, Joey had managed to start a family, have a real, actual job, and return to some semblance of reality.

        Of course, there was still that sleep thing, but it was a minor bump in the road compared to everything else. He tried to put off sleep as much as possible, but there was no avoiding it forever. And though Joey wanted nothing more than to never sleep again, he had to. The last thing he wanted was to keel over from sleep deprivation.

        And like always, in his dream, Bendy was there to torment him.

        Joey knew that Bendy's strength was tied to his popularity. Joey considered it a small blessing that he'd gone out of business when he did, before Bendy could've grown any stronger, but there were still things Bendy was capable of. Like haunting the dreams of his "fans", or at least those closely related to him, because Joey would never, ever be able to consider himself a fan of the demon that nearly ruined him.

        "This old thing again?" Joey asked, more exhausted than anything else. What horrors would Bendy show him today? What torment would be thrust upon his mind in Bendy's hopes that he would give in and start making cartoons again?

        "Not anymore, old man," Bendy replied. "I'm off the market now. Too bad for ya, eh?"

        "What do you mean?" Joey questioned, feeling a mixture between fear and hope.

        "I mean, I've found someone to take the helm of what you were supposed to do for me, slick," Bendy sighed. "A beautiful, wonderful, young animator in training. She's gonna make me famous."

        "How's she gonna do that?" Joey mused. "She doesn't have the copyright."

        "That's where you come in, buddy," Bendy chuckled. "Here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna give the copyright to my lovely new friend."

        "Why would I do that?" Joey asked. "The last thing I want is for you to get your power back."

        Bendy clicked his tongue and said, "You're not seeing the big picture here, old man. I've come to ya with a brand new deal, just for you and one time only."

        "No, no more deals," Joey said.

        Bendy hummed, "I thought ya might say that. But here's how it's gonna go. You're just gonna hand the copyright over to my [Name] and I'll leave ya and your silly little family alone forever. I'll even null and void our old contract, how bout that?"

        Joey winced at the reminder of his old contract with this devil. Back when his mind was gone, he'd made the unfortunate mistake of agreeing to make Bendy a perfect star, and if he didn't, well, he'd just have to relinquish his soul after death. It was a reality Joey had long since accepted, but now there was a way out? But more so than that, what was Bendy doing mentioning his family?

        "My family?" Joey asked.

        "You think you're the only one I can pay these little visits to?" Bendy laughed. "Your granddaughter's, what, four, five? Imagine the trauma repeated nightmares could do a young mind like that. Even if ya don't hand over the copyright to [Name] and I'm gone in a few years, the damage I could do to her mind would be irreparable, ya get it? But! All ya gotta do is give [Name] the copyright, and I'm a problem that'll just disappear."

        That was what he was afraid of. Though there was no proof Bendy could do what he was claiming, Joey had a feeling the stupid demon was being honest. And the last thing he was going to let happen to his little Nancy was whatever Bendy had in mind. Getting out of his own contract would just be a bonus. Sending a silent apology to whoever this [Name] person was, Joey asked, "Her name was again?"

        "[Name][L/N], she's a student at Bernadine's. I'm sure you'll figure it out," Bendy said. "Give her the copyright, and ehhh, throw in your copies of the old film reels and concept art, and you'll be free of me for eternity."

        "I'll do it," Joey sighed.

        "Pleasure doing business with ya," Bendy exclaimed. He reached his gloved hand out and Joey tentatively shook it. There was no getting out of this now.

        Joey awoke to a slight sniffling and a tug at his pajama shirt. He blinked his eyes open and turned to look at the source of the sound to see his teary-eyed granddaughter, Nancy, clutching a blanket to her chest and snot dripping out her nose.

        "Nancy, what's wrong?" he asked, already getting a sinking feeling.

        "Th-There was a scary monster in my dream," Nancy sniveled. "He said...he said...'make sure your grandpa does what I say'. I'm scared. Is that monster hurting you, Papa Joe?"

        Joey sighed and picked up Nancy, tucking her into bed by his side, and said, "No, don't worry, sweetheart. It was just a nightmare. Grandpa will protect you from the scary monster, okay? No one can defeat Joey Drew."

        "Re-Really?" she stammered.

        "Really," he replied. "Now go back to sleep, I'll be right here to keep you safe. 

        The little girl nodded and shut her eyes. Joey watched her as she slowly fell back to sleep. She'd always been exceptionally brave and quick to bounce back. But this was Bendy's proof of what he was capable of, as well of a warning. Joey patted down Nancy's hair. 

        "Sorry, [L/N]," he muttered. "But this is your problem now."

* * *

        By the time you arrived back home, it was late into the night and you were too exhausted to do anything but collapse into a tired ball on your bed. You didn't have school the next day, so no alarms for you. You were fast asleep within seconds. When you woke up hours later, your mouth was dry and you were starving.

        You pulled your hair out of face and got out of bed. You were fairly certain you'd gone to Joey Drew and Henry Dupree's old animation studio the night before and had a demonic encounter with their inked creation, but it must've all been a dream. There was no way you'd actually met a real demon version of Bendy. Or maybe it had been your terrified mind's hallucination. Either way, what you'd seen wasn't real, nor was the contract you signed.

        You decided to treat yourself to an omelet that morning, if only to stave away the horrible memories of the nightmare earlier. It was only when you settled into your favorite chair with your plate covered in egg and a tall glass of your preferred juice that your phone began to ring in the other room. 

        As much as you would've loved to ignore it and just absorb your food, there was always the chance you were hearing back from an internship or something like that, so you had to begrudgingly leave your meal behind and rush into your room to grab your phone.

        It said it was a private number, but that had been pretty common for you in the past year. You answered the call, pressing it up to your ear and saying, "Hello?"

        A feminine voice on the other end of the line said, "Hello, may I speak to Miss [Name][L/N]?"

        "This is she," you replied.

        "It's good to get you on the phone. My name is Lydia Hawthorne. I am a legal representative hired on behalf of Mr. Joey Drew. It is within his interest to discuss a change of title for his property 'Bendy the Dancing Demon' and all affiliated properties. Are you available to speak in more detail at the moment?" the woman, Lydia, asked. 

        Your mouth went dry. So what happened the night before hadn't been a dream. This whole situation made zero sense otherwise. There was no other way Joey Drew would just happen to want to give some random animation student the rights to his characters. 

        "Oh, um, yeah, sure," you rasped.

        "Perfect. As I'm sure you're aware, both you and Mr. Drew live in different areas. In order to fully discuss terms, we will have to set up a video chat at your earliest convenience. I will also need to fax some paperwork to your legal representation, if you have any," Lydia explained.

        The only person you knew who could fit the bill as "legal representation" was your lawyer buddy who'd graduated the year prior. As far as you knew, he'd taken to working at a small firm and was pretty much hating life. Still, he was the cheapest option you could think of and the only person reliable and quick enough for this situation. And he owed you a favor.

        "I have someone, but I'll need some time to get in contact with them," you replied.

        "Of course. Please give me a call back with their contact information as soon as possible. I'll leave you with my number," Lydia said. After giving her your contact information, Lydia bid you farewell. For a moment, you just stared at your phone screen in your hand.

        It had been real. You'd met a real demon Bendy. You made a deal with him. You pretty much signed away the entire rest of your life to work for him. 

        "I am such an idiot..." you muttered.

        You probably should've called your lawyer buddy right away, but you couldn't deal with this at the moment. And right then, you had a full breakfast sitting in the other room. You felt like crying as you shoveled egg in your mouth. Well, at least you still had a delicious breakfast. But all breakfasts must come to an end and you knew there was nothing left you could do to prolong this.

        You already signed the contract. If you just ignored this, then you'd be pretty much giving your soul away. Why did you have to sign that paper again?

        Oh, yeah, that's right. Because you didn't want to starve to death in an old, rotting building.

        You searched through your contacts until you found your friend. Well, you hoped he was ready to do you a favor.

        He picked up on the second ring. His voice sounded dead as he asked, "You know I'm at work, right?"

        "Yeah, but this is work related," you replied.

        "What do you want?" he sighed.

        "It's time to make good on that favor you owe me."

        "...Did you get arrested?"

        "What? No! Say, Dan, how do you feel about cartoons?"

* * *

        Three days later, after your classes, you found yourself sitting in a small office with Daniel shuffling through a frighteningly large pile of paperwork.

        "I can't believe you made me do this for you," Daniel grumbled.

        "Well, it's gotta be better than running around giving people coffee," you replied.

        "You know I haven't done that since interning," he huffed. "Still, I guess this is marginally more interesting than spell-checking people's wills."

        "Well, there ya go!" you exclaimed. "Marginally more interesting. Let's just...get this show on the road."

        "Alright," Daniel replied. "So, first off, I need you to sign those papers so I can fax them back to Lydia."

        "Ooo, so she's 'Lydia' now, a first name basis," you cooed.

        "Gross, she's, like, 15 years older than me," Daniel said.

        "You always were a cougar chaser."

        "I'm gonna ignore that statement. Sign the damn papers so we can move on with our lives."

        You sighed internally and stared down at the papers in front of you. Daniel had already walked you through the paperwork. All there was left to do was sign it. You knew you had to do it, but something about that just added an element of permanence to the situation. You weren't sure you were ready for it, but there was no other choice. You flipped through the set of papers, signing where you needed to and initialing in places. There. It was done.

        You slid the papers to Daniel. 

        "Perfect," Daniel said. He grabbed your paperwork and moved to the fax machine in the corner of the room. He inputted some numbers in there and then put your paperwork in. "So, you still haven't explained how this happened? How do you get some old guy to give you the copyright for a forgotten cartoon?" 

        What could you possibly tell him, here? 'Oh, we both know the same demon.' No one would ever buy that, and if Daniel didn't think you were joking, he'd have you institutionalized.

        "We have a mutual friend who thought it'd be a good idea," you replied instead.

        If anything, Daniel seemed even more confused and curious than before. He looked as though he was going to say something, but his phone pinged before he could. He glanced down at and said, "Well, that's it then. The copyright's in your name now."

        "Really? That's it?" you asked. "I just thought...I don't know. I thought it'd be more difficult. I mean, we only video chatted once, and Joey Drew wasn't even there for that. I just thought there'd be more to it."

        "I don't really know what to tell you." Joey shrugged. "From what I know, usually changing titles is a lot messier than this, but it's almost like Joey Drew was throwing them at you. Speaking of which..."

        "Speaking of throwing of something at me?" you asked.

        "Shut it."

        Daniel opened a locked closet. He grabbed a cardboard box from the bottom. He set the box on the desk and pushed it in front of you.

        "What is this?" you asked, though you were a little afraid to know.

        "Take a look," Daniel replied.

        A bit nervous, you peered inside the box and your eyes widened. Film reels. The actual, bonafide original reels for Bendy. While you were looking in the box, Daniel had grabbed two more from the closet and set them on the desk as well. 

        "They came in yesterday. Lydia told me to give them to you once everything was settled," Daniel explained. "They're legally yours now. So...congratulations? Man, an animation student like you must be busting a nut right now seeing all this."

        "Too far."

        "I take it back."

        "Thank you."

        "So...what are you gonna do now?" Daniel asked.

        Honestly, you'd been trying to avoid thinking about it. You'd already been hyper-stressed with...everything, so this Bendy situation wasn't helping at all whatsoever. You wanted to scream, and maybe die a little bit. But now that you had the film reels and you were committed to this via your soul, you had to come up with something. 

        You sighed, "I'll probably get someone to digitize these and upload them online."

        "That's it?" Daniel asked.

        "Yeah? What else would I do?" you replied.

        "I don't know, sell them online or something?" Daniel said. "Well, it's your choice. I'll mail you my invoice."

        "Cool. Thanks for helping me with this, Dan." You found that you were very sincere, in spite of the stress this whole situation had rained upon you.

        "Hey, it's no problem. I _did_ owe you that favor. Well, I think that's enough for today. Did you need some help getting this stuff to your car?"

        "That would be great, thanks."

* * *

        You stared at set of film reels sitting on the table. Well, perhaps glare would be a better term to use in this situation.

        There were 40 in total. Once you had them digitized, you would probably have enough time to make one or two animations of your own before you ran out of the old ones. Too bad you had so much damn homework to worry about. What should you even prioritize in this situation?

        According to your research, the nearest person capable of digitizing old film was 60 miles away. The thought of mailing them didn't seem very appealing, nor intelligent. And there was no way you could drive 60 miles away and back in the middle of the damn week, so you'd have to wait for the weekend.

        Why did you agree to this again? Oh, wait, that's it. The threat of starvation. You tried not to let the impending panic attack take hold of you and sent a final glance to the reels on the table. You couldn't deal with them that night, anyway, and you had classes in the morning.

        It was time to go to bed.

        Really, in all honesty, you should've expected Bendy to show up in your dreams that night.

        Your first instinct upon seeing the little cartoon devil was not, in fact, excitement and joy as it had been the last time you met him in your dreams. At that time, all it'd been was a dream, but now you knew better and you knew he was here to harass you about something or demand thanks or whatever.

        "Hiya there, [Name]," Bendy chirped. "Fancy seeing you here."

        "You make it sound like we coincidentally ran into each other on the street," you replied.

        "Well," Bendy said, then paused. "I just thought I'd be friendly, is all."

        "Look, I don't mean to seem rude, but I know you're probably here for something. I'd prefer if you could just tell me sooner rather than later," you sighed.

        "Suit yourself, lil darlin'," Bendy said. You wanted to tell him to never call you that again, but before you were able to, he continued speaking. "I wanted to know when ya planned on posting those animations on the world wide web, or whatever ya call it these days."

        "The internet," you deadpanned. "Anyway, I have to get them digitized first before I can do that."

        "Oh, and how are ya planning on getting that done?" he asked. He stared into your soul with those two dead eyes. You felt an involuntary shudder go down your spine. Yeah, that was the first thing you were changing about his design when you started storyboarding.

        "Well, there's a guy about 60 miles up north and I was planning on going this weeke-"

        "Whoa, whoa, whoa, toots, you're gonna entrust those to some _stranger_?" Bendy asked. Great. Now he was calling you toots.

        "Cool it with the pet names," you replied. "And _yes, I am_ , because I have no idea how to do it on my own and that just pretty much guarantees I'd end up ruining them. 

        "Yeah, but ya can't just trust just anyone with this!" Bendy argued.

        "That's why I'm not just giving them to any old shmuck. This is the best guy anywhere near me," you argued back. "Look, just...trust me, okay? It's not like these are the only copies of these. So on the off, off chance anything happened to them, it's not like there aren't others out there."

        "Fine, but you'd better hope for the sake of your soul you're right about this," Bendy said. "How long is this gonna take, anyhow?"

        "I really don't know. I'd imagine this isn't exactly an easy process, so I don't want to rush him. But I planned on starting storyboarding for a new animation tomorrow," you said.

        "Can't ya get that guy the reels anytime sooner than this weekend?" Bendy complained.

        "Are you kidding? I have classes to worry about!" you exclaimed.

        "And classes are more important than upholding your half of the deal?" Bendy countered. You wanted to scream at the top of your lungs.

        "Then consider it an investment in your future, since with a degree I'll have better opportunities to make you famous," you huffed. "And anyway, storyboarding is still working on getting you fans, so it's not like I'm doing nothing."

        "Fine," Bendy said. "Just see to it that ya stay on top of this. I don't want ya slacking, ya hear?"

        "What am I, your slave?" you grumbled. "I don't remember you being this rude before."

        "Gosh, sorry," Bendy replied. And he actually sounded sincere. "Guess I'm just worried about fading away."

        You couldn't help but smile wryly a bit. You wanted to pat his head.

        "Hey, as long as I'm alive, so will you. So just have a little faith in me?" you said.

        "Demons don't have 'faith'," Bendy replied.

        And in spite of the fact you were pretty annoyed with him even still and stressed over this whole situation, you couldn't help but laugh.

        Because that was pretty darn ridiculous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I know there's not a lot of action in this chapter. I actually intended for there to be MORE legal stuff, but I thought that'd be really boring to read, so I kept it to a minimum. Well, now that this has all been built up, I can continue from here.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader is tired.

You couldn't even remember the last time you were so sleep deprived. Bendy's demands on top of your projects on top of work left you devoid of life and energy. Even worse, the stupid bastard didn't even let you sleep in over the weekend because you had to deliver those stupid film reels. And though you got it done, Bendy wouldn't even let you nap when you got home, insisting you work on storyboards. You wondered if he forgot humans needed to sleep. 

        You wanted to kill him.

        Well, you supposed in his case exorcise him.

        Sometimes you found yourself regretting not just letting yourself starve to death in that animation studio, but maybe that was just the sleep deprivation talking. 

        Anyway, Greg, the guy you hired to digitize those film reels, made it clear it would take upwards of a month, maybe two weeks if you paid extra. And considering the fact that the fee he charged you would force you to eat nothing but ramen and rice for the next month or so, you couldn't exactly afford the extra.

        Not that Bendy didn't get on your case about it, but he seemed to shut up quite nicely when you told him the only way you'd pay that extra fee is if he just so happened to have a small fortune lying around somewhere. 

        Most of your time in the following month was dedicated solely to storyboarding new Bendy shorts, working on character redesigns, and designing a few new characters. Well, that was the time you weren't doing homework or working. 

        It was over a month later when Greg called you back.

        You were sitting on the couch, ramen congealing in your stomach and still silently trying to decide on what Alice Angel's hairstyle should be, when your phone rang and you immediately snatched it.

        "Hello?" you barked into the phone, hoping, praying, that it was Greg to tell you he was done and then maybe Bendy would let you have a full night sleep.

        Greg seemed quite taken aback when he answered, "U-Uh, hello."

        "Oh, Greg, hi," you replied. "Did you finish?"

        "Yeah, just finished up. Um, I emailed you the digitized versions and the music, though I have no idea what songs are supposed to accompany which animations. You're free to come pick up the film reels whenever you have time," Greg said.

        "Oh, perfect, thank you so much!" you exclaimed, already pulling open your laptop to see the emails. You expected Greg to hang up, but instead you heard a bit of hesitant breathing on his end. "Greg?"

        "Um, if you don't mind my asking...where did you get these film reels?" Greg asked. "A-And the music, too."

        "I inherited them," you replied. It was a lie, but you just wanted this conversation to be over. You got the feeling Greg was going to bring up something - something that was going to make you regret your decision even further.

        "Well, a lot of those reels were pretty damaged," Greg said hesitantly. "I managed to fix them up, but..."

        "But?" you answered. Shit. You shouldn't have even asked, you should've said 'well, thanks Greg! But I've gotta go, see you on the flipside!'

        "It was probably just coincidence, but I saw some pretty creepy stuff going through those," Greg said. "Just be careful."

        "Are you suggesting those film reels are haunted?" you asked. You could practically hear his blush through the phone, but he had no idea how right he was. "Thanks for the warning."

        "Right, sorry. Just pick them up whenever you can," Greg said. Then he hung up.

        You felt a little bad about brushing him off like that, but that was a discussion you absolutely didn't want to get wrapped up in. True to his word, Greg had emailed you the files, there were 80, half of them being the actual shorts and the other half being the accompanying music. It would be a while before you could match them all together. 

        Your old VHS tape only had nine of the original Bendy shorts. Not forty. Plus, your memory from back then was a little fuzzy, so there was no telling if you'd be able to remember what audio accompanied each short. However, you were certain you could remember the original short and the music that was supposed to go with it. 

        All it was gonna take was time. You briefly considered driving down to pay old Bendy a visit in person and get him to help, but the thought of removing yourself from your comfortable couch was too difficult a hurdle to overcome.

        So you began listening to the audio tracks.

        You began to carefully sort them based on the voices in the audio. When it was just Bendy, you put it in a 'Bendy Only' section. When it had Boris the Wolf and Bendy, then you put it in its own section. Bendy, Boris, and Alice, its own section. Just Alice and Bendy, its own section. Organizing them like that would make your life so much easier down the road when you watched the shorts and attempted to match them up. By the time you were done with just that simple task, you truly wanted to slam your head through a glass window, but you doubted that would help much, if anything it would make it worse. 

        Still, by the end of the day, you wanted to have at least one Bendy short up and a fully functioning youtube channel. You already had the channel made, with banner art, and the username so eloquently titled 'Little Devil Darlin.' You just wanted to get the first one up. You just had to get the original,  _The Dancing Demon_ , up and you would be satisfied.

        Matching up the audio to _The Dancing Demon_ was surprisingly easy. You knew it so well, by heart even, so it didn't take you long to recognize it. Actually editing them together took longer. You had to make sure everything matched up perfectly. As you were doing so, you briefly considered editing the short as well, but you shot down the idea. Getting rid of the flaws would just be taking away the history of it, filtering it, even. You cleaned up the audio the best you could and edited out the truly horrible mistakes that came not from the original film reels, but rather damage, but other than that, you kept them intact. 

        You made it sound so simple, but honestly, the whole process took you hours. So much work for one small short. But, you couldn't help but notice, the amount of time it took you to edit just paled in comparison to the painstaking weeks it would take you to fully animate your own.

        You had 40 shorts. If you uploaded one a week, that would leave you with...

        Maybe 9 months, give or take?

        Great. That left you enough time to maybe make 9 of your own. You definitely weren't looking forward to this. Maybe you could stretch it all out by making it once every two weeks, but you doubted Bendy would let you get away with such a slow schedule. Great. Just...great.

        You honestly didn't want to think about it too hard, so you went to youtube and just uploaded the animation. You made sure to give it a proper title as well as the year it was first produced. In the description, you posted a brief history of Joey Drew studios and the production of Bendy cartoons, as well as the downfall of the company. Then, you explained that you intended to revive the the old cartoon, first by posting the old shorts and then creating new ones. You left a few links to social media in there, but you didn't have high hopes for anyone contacting you. You felt miserable as you watched the little bar go up.

        Perhaps choosing starvation would've been a better choice.

        When the video finally uploaded, you spent a few minutes posting the video to all your social media, as well as begging for promos from all kinds of animation junkies on those sites like a pathetic, attention starved child.

        And with that, you shut you laptop and thought you deserved a damn break.

* * *

        In all sincerity, you sort of expected Bendy to show up in your dreams that night. It just seemed like the kind of thing he'd do. Maybe to congratulate you on finally getting that first video out there or to badger you about doing more, but you had resigned yourself to a short and unsatisfying sleep.

        Which is why it was so unnerving when you woke up feeling refreshed without any interruption. Immediately, you felt as though perhaps something went wrong. Maybe it backfired entirely, and posting the video somehow had a negative effect. Or maybe the deal was off and Bendy was going to reap your soul. Neither option sounded appealing.

        You tried not to let your nerves get to you as you crawled out of bed and to the kitchen. You had pretty much passed out after dinner the night before, so you were definitely in need of another stomach refill. In spite of that, your stomach felt tight and you didn't think you'd get much down at the current rate.

        As you considered what next to do, wondering if maybe it'd be a good idea to drive down to Joey Drew's studio and check on Bendy yourself, you pulled out your phone and checked on the youtube video.

        150 views, 30 likes. Not too shabby for one night. Perusing your social media revealed that one of the lesser known people you begged for a promotion actually went through with it and they were probably responsible for the views, no matter how small they might have been. There were even a few comments!

         _Lucia_ _Espinoza: I remember watching these when i was little, i never thought i'd find them again!_

_xxgutsxgriffithxx: this is actually kinda creepy, but i sort of like it_

_flowerchild435897: eh_

        Well. Not the most passionate response, but it was at least something.

        "Wowzers, those people are really lookin' at me?" a voice said from behind you.

        Even though you recognized it, you definitely didn't expect it, so you let out a bloodcurdling shriek and threw your phone in the air. You fumbled to catch it, thankfully managing it even if you had a few close calls.

        "What the hell?!" you squeaked and spun around to face someone you were pretty sure couldn't physically be there. "How are you here?! I thought you could only see me in my dreams!"

        "That was before, toots," Bendy said. "It's different now that I have more fans."

        "That's really how it works?" you asked. "Only 150 people have even seen this video, but that's enough to let you leave the studio?"

        "Well, it's not  _that_ great," Bendy replied. "I can only visit ya, as of right now. And I can't even touch anything. But hey, at least I can supervise ya up close and personal now."

        "Lovely." Sarcasm bled into your tone, but you couldn't help it, because damn, this was the most unappealing scenario. You already felt stressed and constrained. It was going to be even worse with Bendy here getting on your case if you so much as even took a break.

        "Ya don't sound very happy," Bendy said. "That's a darn shame. Only smiles are allowed around here."

        "No, frowns are entirely acceptable because this is my apartment and I can do what I want in it," you replied. "Including, respectfully, asking you to leave."

        "Not gonna happen," Bendy said. "I'm already pretty cozy here. Loads better than that musty old shack."

        "You just got here! How can you be cozy?!" you exclaimed. "God, you are so rude!"

        "Don't invoke the big man's name in my presence. You'll live to regret it."

        You narrowed your eyes. Hadn't he threatened and tormented you enough by now? That was enough. This wasn't part of the deal. Calmly, you turned around and opened a nearby pantry. What you were looking for wasn't difficult to find.

        "What are you-" Bendy didn't get the opportunity to finish whatever statement he was going to make, because you belted him in the face with a handful of salt. You didn't know how severe an effect it had on him, but he sputtered and hissed like a cat, clawing at his face with his gloved hands. It couldn't have been that painful, because it only lasted a few seconds.

        You got the feeling he was glaring at you, but all you could do was grin, too overjoyed to even comprehend the consequences to your actions. You set the salt canister on the counter and said, "Now, Bendy. We're going to have to set some ground rules."

        "Ground rules? I don't care about your ground rules! Ya just salted me!" he exclaimed.

        "That's correct, because last time I checked, I didn't invite you in my home," you said in a patient baby voice. "I know you're probably gonna stay no matter how much salt I throw at you, that's why I'm making rules. 1. You have to go home at night. 2. You won't interfere while I'm working. And 3. You don't enter my bedroom."

        "Ya really think I'm gonna follow your dumb rules?!" Bendy snapped. He seemed really angry.

        "Actually, let's just get rid of the temptation right now," you said. You grabbed the salt canister again and spread a line of salt on the entrance to your doorway.

        "Just wait until I'm stronger! Then a lil salt won't stop me!" Bendy seethed. "And I can still visit ya in your dreams, don't forget about that! I'll make ya pay for this slight!"

        "This slight! Don't forget it's my apartment your intruding in! And don't forget that the whole reason you were ever able to leave that stupid studio was because of my hard work!" you argued. "I think you'd better get over whatever you're so pissy about."

        Bendy produced a growl so frightening, you were forced to realize that Bendy was still a demon and you'd just pissed up off quite a bit. Just as you were prepared to grovel for forgiveness, he just let out a little huff and said, "Fine. I'll follow your rules, for now anyway."

        "Oh. Great. Cool," you said.

        "So what now?" Bendy asked.

        "What do you mean?" you countered with a question of your own.

        "Ya can't possibly think you're done with just one measly video!" 

        "No, no, of course not! I'm going to work on animating that first short and post the first page of the webcomic I have planned," you replied.

        "Just upload all the old shorts already!" Bendy snapped.

        "That's a horrible idea. If I post them all at once, I won't gain a steady viewership," you responded.

        "Dammit, this is taking too long. How long until I'm back to my former glory?"

        "How would I know? I'm just making the best decisions I can, given the circumstances."

        "Well, do it faster!"

        "Wow, demons aren't known for their patience," you said. "I thought you'd be a little more patient considering you've been waiting years for this."

        "That's why I'm so impatient."

        "Look." You put your hands on your hips. "I get it, okay? But if I rush this, it's going to fail. These things take time. I don't have any help, like Joey Drew did, and I don't have a secured audience. I'm doing the best I can. I know you probably don't have the capacity to feel trust, but at least recognize I know what I'm doing. I understand the modern world better than you."

        "Tch, fine. But I wanna be able to pick stuff up by the end of the month. And no more throwing salt at me."

        "I can't guarantee anything, but I'll do my best. And as long as you follow the rules, I won't have to."

        With that, you went to sit at your table with your sketchbook. It would probably be for the best if Bendy saw you working, at least for a little bit. But just as you were picking up your pencil and opening up your sketchbook to your Alice Angel page, Bendy said, "Alice would never wear her hair like that."

        "Remember what I said about not interfering?" you growled. But you left the salt behind, so you couldn't punish him for break the rule. "Besides, how do you know? Alice Angel isn't even real."

        Bendy scoffed, "When I have enough power, they'll be just as real as I am."

        "How?" you asked.

        "When I have enough power, parts of myself break off and take on a mind of their own, in this case it would be the forms and personalities of the other characters," Bendy explained. "They'll be their own entities, even developing beyond what the creator or myself can control. So they're fully real. They just can't exist without me."

        It felt more like they were just shards of Bendy. What really mattered to you is if they had their own consciousness and there was no way to know if they did for sure.

        "I see. Well, why wouldn't Alice wear her hair like this? I think ponytails are nice," you replied. "And easy to draw."

        "Then do a bun or something, I dunno! But Alice definitely wouldn't like that style!" Bendy said. 

        "Fine, a bun," you sighed. It wasn't a permanent hairstyle anyway, it was just an alternate to switch things up from time to time. The style you chose for most of the time was her same old waves down, since it was her own iconic style. You did a rough sketch of Alice Angel, not even bothering to color in her dress or eyes, just her hair. A bun was almost easier, honestly. And after you added the halo and horns, you added a small, simple looking feather to her bun. "That better?"

        "Why the feather?" he asked.

        "Cuz she's an angel! I just thought it'd be cute, like a reference to her wings. She never showed them that often in the original shorts," you explained.

        He peered at the rough sketch with that same old smiling face. Yeah, you needed to fix that. It was difficult when you couldn't tell what he was feeling.

        "Alice would like that. She'd like it a lot," Bendy said.

        "Glad to hear it."

        "Hey, lemme see the rest."

        "What did I tell you about interfering?!"

        "Just lemme see 'em already! I'll tell ya whether they're any good."

        You wanted to argue, just for the sake of it, but if he was offering to help, well, how could you refuse?

        "Fine," you said. "Here's Boris."

**Author's Note:**

> I am genuinely incapable of being normal. Enjoy this, I guess.


End file.
